My start up story

I love working with small businesses, especially fellow mums, so I thought it was only fitting that I shared my own small business story.

I grew up around family businesses. When I was in primary school I thought that it was normal to have both parents at home after school. As I got older school holidays were spent working in the family business and pocketing up to five bucks a day for my efforts (which I promptly spent on Girlfriend and Dolly magazines).

Where my journey begins

Like so many other business mums before me, my job was made redundant – I can’t tell you how often I hear this scenario from other mums. Too often.

My version of this story is that I was six weeks back from maternity leave after having my second child. The new senior management team wanted to make their mark by carrying out a major restructure. My digital marketing role was split apart and merged into other areas and I was offered redundancy.

Was I upset? Weirdly no.

The truth is I was having a hard time reconnecting with my old work life. Looking back now I think it was a combination of my entrepreneurial roots calling and my focus shifting from work to home life.

My side hustle

Ok, full disclosure … while I was on maternity leave I started an Etsy shop selling handmade clothes and accessories or girls under 2 yrs. After I had my daughter I wasn’t happy with the clothes on offer for her and felt I had to do something. It became a passion so I decided to pursue it.

Today, I’m so pleased how it’s morphing into a new brand. The past few months have been about laying its foundations and educating myself on what it takes to run a small business.

So how did I get from there to here?

I know that it’s going to take time to build, nurture and grow my clothing business. I’m completely ok with that. It’s going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

Because of this, I knew that I’d need to keep working so I started a job search, but each time I read an ad or researched a company it made me break out in a cold sweat. This was when I realised I had gone so far down my entrepreneurial path that my whole mindset had completely shifted.

So I did the only thing that made sense: I started my own business … again.

I know it sounds totally crazy to have two businesses, but after much thought I came to the following conclusions:

– I want to work with small business owners because I am a small business owner. I get what it’s like. #thestruggleisreal

– I don’t want to keep my digital knowledge to myself. I want to share it far and wide so others can benefit and grow their small businesses too. #communityovercompetition

– Being able to bring my knowledge all together from my clothing business + email marketing business + years of digital experience = happy days for you! Let me be your guinea pig and SHOW you what works and what doesn’t. #myguineapiglife

I truly hope that you consider spending some time with me. The simplest way for us to hang out is by subscribing to my emails. These will be packed with email tips, hints and hacks, latest blog post updates and resources.